CIGAR,
Country Life Farm in Maryland, where Cigar was foaled on April 18, 1990,
The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, where Cigar had resided in
“Cigar had been experiencing arthritis-related health issues over the past
“The Kentucky Horse Park was committed to providing him with the highest
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Cigar had been under the care of a team of veterinarians from the Hagyard
Equine Medical Institute and Rood and Riddle. The team of veterinarians and
surgeons had deemed that spinal surgery was the only option to relieve the
pressure and ensure the highest quality of life for the horse.
“Cigar had been suffering from a cervical spine instability for which
conservative medical therapies could no longer halt the disease’s progressive
nature,” said Dr. Rocky M. Mason, of the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. “The
decision to seek out a more lasting treatment modality was made. Surgery is
never an easy decision in a 24-year-old horse, but Cigar had proven himself a
regal, classy and determined patient making the decision to proceed an easier
one.”
Surgical correction was performed by a team led by Dr. Brett Woodie, of Rood
and Riddle, Dr. Laura Werner, of Hagyard Equine, and Dr. Steve Reed, of Rood and
Riddle who pioneered the special procedure performed.
“Cigar developed a compression of his spinal cord in the lower part of his
neck,” Dr. Reed said. “The most severe compression was between cervical vertebra
6 and 7, with additional compression between cervical vertebra 5 and 6. This was
an acquired problem related to arthritis, and bony remodeling in the neck. The
severity of this spinal cord compression became so problematic that all parties
were left with few options, the best one being surgery. This was a significant
surgery involving a prolonged recovery. Unfortunately, during recovery Cigar
suffered a vertebral fracture and passed away.”
Bred and campaigned by the late Allen Paulson, and reared by the Seattle Slew
mare Solar Slew, Cigar was originally trained by Alex Hassinger and based in
Southern California. Despite winning on dirt at Hollywood Park in his second
start, in May of his three-year-old season, logic dictated that the son of
Palace Music, a Grade/Group 1 winner in England and the U.S. as well as a
Breeders’ Cup Mile runner-up, would pursue a career on turf.
Cigar eventually won one of his seven grass starts for Hassinger and placed
in a pair of Grade 3 events: the Ascot Handicap at Bay Meadows and Volante
Handicap at Santa Anita.
At four, Cigar was relocated to the barn of future Hall of Famer Bill Mott in
New York. After placing just twice in four turf attempts, Mott made what would
ultimately be considered a historic decision to return Cigar to the main track.
On October 28, 1994 at Aqueduct, in a one-mile allowance, Cigar cruised by eight
lengths and a winning streak that would enthrall the sporting world was born.
Cigar concluded 1994 with another emphatic victory over the Big A’s one-turn
mile, taking the NYRA Mile (later renamed in honor of Cigar) by seven lengths.
Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey was aboard Cigar that afternoon, and the pair
would never again be separated on the racetrack.
The win streak continued into the winter of 1995 when Cigar captured a 1
1/16-mile allowance at Gulfstream, and then stepped up in class to meet reigning
Horse of the Year Holy Bull in the Donn Handicap. Cigar opened up a two-length
lead on the champion, but the clash between the two future Hall of Famers ended
prematurely as Holy Bull went lame down the backside and was pulled up with a
career-ending injury.
The proverbial torch was passed in the Donn from Holy Bull to Cigar, who went
on to win by 5 1/2 lengths. The wins kept piling up as the season progressed as
Cigar took his show on the road from coast to coast, scoring with relative ease:
the Gulfstream Park Handicap by 7 1/2 lengths, the Oaklawn Handicap by 2 1/2
lengths, the Pimlico Special by 2 1/4 lengths, the Massachusetts Handicap by
four lengths, the Hollywood Gold Cup by 3 1/2 lengths, the Woodward by 2 3/4
lengths, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup by one length.
Virtually assured of an older male and Horse of the Year title by late
October, Cigar’s main focus now was attempting to become the first horse since
Spectacular Bid in 1980 to win the latter championship having gone through an
undefeated season. On a cold, blustery day at Belmont Park, Cigar warmed the
hearts of a disappointingly low crowd with a 2 1/2-length victory in the
Breeders’ Cup Classic, his ninth victory of the season and his fourth over 1 1/4
miles.
Perhaps most remembered about that Breeders’ Cup Classic was the
recently-retired announcer Tom Durkin’s pronouncement as Cigar crossed the wire:
“And here he is: The unconquerable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar!”
Cigar’s title defense in 1996 kicked off with a second victory in the Donn
Handicap, under 128 pounds. His next start occurred in the inaugural running of
the Dubai World Cup, then worth $4 million and contested at Nad al Sheba.
Overcoming a trip half way across the world, the desert heat, and a deep, tiring
surface, Cigar turned in perhaps his most courageous effort by repelling
American rival Soul of the Matter by a half-length in a time of 2:03 4/5.
Given adequate time to recuperate, Cigar returned to action to take the
Massachusetts Handicap for a second time, under 130 pounds. By this point, with
15 wins in a row, Cigar was clearly a hot commodity, and racetracks across the
country were doing everything possible to entice Team Cigar to bring the great
horse to their track to race.
As it had a generation earlier in the wake of Secretariat’s Triple Crown bid,
Arlington Park in Chicago stepped up to the plate by presenting the $1 million
Arlington Citation Challenge, a nationally televised vehicle for Cigar to equal
Citation’s modern-day record of 16 wins in a row by a major champion. An odds-on
choice in a field of 10 that also included the leading three-year-old
Unbridled’s Song, Cigar did not did disappoint the huge throng with an
off-the-pace victory by 3 1/2 lengths and his second in a row under a 130-pound
impost.
The stage was now set for Cigar to break Citation’s record, and the race
chosen by Cigar’s connections was the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, a
weight-for-age event which entitled Cigar to carry only 124 pounds. A
then-record Del Mar crowd of more than 44,000, as well as millions on national
television, tuned in to see history in the making.
Unfortunately for the large audience, both on and off track, Cigar’s streak
ended in the 1 1/4-mile race. Tracking much closer to the pace than usual
through very fast splits of :45 4/5, 1:09 1/5, and 1:33 3/5, Cigar had little
left to withstand the Richard Mandella-trained Dare and Go, who opened up in the
stretch to win by 3 1/2 lengths while an obviously tired Cigar trudged home
second, seven lengths ahead of third-place Siphon.
Cigar got back on the winning track a month later in the Woodward at Belmont,
taking that nine-furlong test for a second year in a row by four lengths.
However, the champion concluded his career with two more losses, albeit narrow
ones.
In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Cigar just failed to catch eventual
three-year-old champion and future Hall of Famer Skip Away by a head. Three
weeks later, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Woodbine, Cigar again couldn’t
muster a winning rally after making a five-wide bid, but only fell a neck short
of the California-based Alphabet Soup, with Preakness winner Louis Quatorze
finishing in between them.
Despite setbacks in three of his final four outings, Cigar was again voted
champion older male and Horse of the Year in 1996. During the course of the
season, Cigar surpassed Alysheba as North America’s all-time leading money
winner, and at year’s end his career ledger stood at 33-19-4-5, $9,999,815. The
earnings mark stood until 2008 when Curlin cracked the $10 million barrier.
Cigar proved infertile soon after entering stud and was pensioned at the
Kentucky Horse Park. He will be buried alongside fellow Hall of Famers Forego,
John Henry, and Alysheba at the Park’s Memorial Walk of Champions.
“Cigar was an incredible horse who left an everlasting mark on the racing
world,” said Ted Nicholson, interim executive director of the Kentucky Horse
Park. “We are honored that Cigar was able to spend so many years of his life
here at the park where he was visited by so many fans and will always be
remembered.”
A public memorial service will be held for Cigar at a future date, yet to be
determined.